


An Unorthodox Proposal

by HitanTenshi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Backstory, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, headcanon dump, post episode 500, tsunade telling the council what's what
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 14:56:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12171135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HitanTenshi/pseuds/HitanTenshi
Summary: Kakashi wants to propose to Iruka, but he decides to discuss it with the Konoha Council first.





	An Unorthodox Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> This contains a fair amount of headcanon I've pieced together about Iruka's background (and these headcanon will likely play into future fic).

If there’s one thing Shikamaru and Kakashi can agree on every day, it’s that running Konohagakure is a pain. It’s practically their ritual in the morning, when each stumbles in from his home with bleary eyes and stifled yawns, to look at each other and sigh in unison. But such a spirit lasts only until Shizune trots in with the day’s schedule. Then lazy Kakashi and lazy Shikamaru transform into the rokudaime hokage and his jounin commander.

Life has finally calmed down after the hullabaloo of Naruto and Hinata’s wedding, but one thing remains fixed in Kakashi’s mind, day in and day out. Or, rather… one person. It is, therefore, into the quiet laze of one morning’s ritual that Kakashi finds himself announcing in a sleepy lilt:

“I’m going to ask Iruka-sensei to marry me.”

He may as well have prodded Shikamaru with lightning, for how quickly the young man sits up ramrod straight and stares at him. Maybe he should have been more subtle. “What brings this on?” Shikamaru, understandably so, asks.

“Maa,” Kakashi rests his chin in his hand and gazes off into the middle distance, “I think I’ve been carrying a torch for some time now — I’ve just only now realized that it’s lit.”

Shikamaru’s chuckle spills into his first word, per his usual cadence. “Love is a pain that way.”

“He actually let me hold his hands, just before Naruto’s wedding. Granted, it was a spur of the moment thing, but… that’s when I knew.”

“I’d say _congratulations_ , but you have to go and get a _yes_ from Iruka-sensei first.”

Kakashi sighs. “Do you think I have a chance?”

Shikamaru does him the honor of assuming his trademark thinking pose before giving him a thumb’s up. “As your jounin commander and your friend, I can say with confidence: proceed.” Kakashi smiles fondly at him.

The real hassle is going to be getting the council’s blessing.

+.+.+.+.+

“Absolutely not!”

“You do know that I don’t need your permission, right? I just thought I’d ask.”

“The audacity!”

“Maa, if you’re only in a twist because Iruka-sensei is a man, then I’m _really_ not going to listen to you.”

“The impertinence!”

The Sage of Six Paths be thanked, Tsunade chooses that moment to enter the scene. “Oi, brat! Shikamaru tells me you’re going to propose to Iruka!”

He shrugs. “That is the plan.”

“About damn time, I say!”

“Tsunade-hime! How can you say such a thing! You know that Umino Iruka is—”

“Yes, yes.” Tsunade squares herself to the council, arms crossed and brow raised. “Iruka is a none other than the sensei who sowed the first seeds of the Will of Fire — and, furthermore, compassion and selfless love — into the young man we now hail as the hero of the shinobi world, as well as the majority of the jounin of that generation. During all of that time, I have seen him produce impeccable work. He doesn’t let a difference in rank stop him from saying what ought to be said and has kept many a sloppy mission report from cluttering our records. He thinks of the long-term and takes steps to ensure its safety. It’s that reliability that has no doubt put him in excellent standing for consideration as the next vice-principal of our academy. He is, in short, a responsible leader and a capable advisor, and _more than once_ he’s called Kakashi out on his childish shit.”

“Did you have to add that last bit?” Kakashi squeaks in, but Tsunade is on a roll.

“As if outstanding personal character were not reason enough to bless Kakashi’s proposal, Iruka has social standing with blood ties to the founding lineage of our village.” That’s news to Kakashi, but he can barely open his mouth to ask before she elaborates. “As I’m sure you can remember, my aunt married into a subset of the Uzumaki clan. Her son Ikkaku and his wife Kohari moved to Konoha with their infant son around the time Minato was appointed Hokage — and I have a sneaking suspicion that this was not a timing of coincidence. If you’re being stubborn because of whatever you intended to do with Iruka then, pull your heads out of the ground already! Naruto is—”

“Hold on!” Because Kakashi feels he must interject. “Iruka is Senju? Iruka is Uzumaki!?”

“Yes, brat. Do try to keep up.”

“But his family name is—”

“Just a name. With the Uzumaki clan being targeted, it’s not so outlandish for an individual family, especially one lacking the distinctive physical trait of red hair, to use the guise of a different name. Before coming to Konoha, Ikkaku and Kohari lived along the coast. They named their son after a fish! Two and two make four, genius.”

Feeling more than a little attacked by Tsunade’s deluge of information, Kakashi presses on: “Does Iruka know?”

“I haven’t asked.”

“How did _you_ know?”

“Because he’s my cousin once-removed and I have the clan documentation to prove it. Plus, he looks so much like my grandfather that it’s scary.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned this before!?”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Tsunade-hime!” Utatane Koharu raises her hand for the current and former kages’ silence. “Please return to the point. Umino… _Uzumaki_ Iruka is not someone who should be placed in prominence for the very reason of his heritage. As you suspect, it was not happenstance that he and his parents came to Konoha. We were simply thinking ahead for when Uzumaki Kushina should have children. Considering the dangers involved with a jinchuuriki’s pregnancy, we investigated, with Sandaime and Yondaime’s approval, if and how we could remove the Kyuubi from Kushina without ending her life. And for that we needed—”

Kakashi feels as though a white-hot poker has just lodged into the small of his back. “You had Iruka brought here to become the next jinchuuriki!?”

Koharu doesn’t answer. She doesn’t have to. In her stead, Mitokado Homura speaks: “In the end, it came to nothing. The power could be siphoned, shared even, but not extracted in full without putting Kushina’s life at risk. The project was abandoned, and any traces of its effects on young Iruka were sealed by Yondaime. He probably doesn’t even remember it.”

Tsunade huffs. “The point is: it’s twenty years too late for this nonsense, given how things turned out. Or are you still trying to hold onto a _backup_ in case something should happen to Naruto?”

“We… will concede that perhaps we have been _confining_ of Umino Iruka in case something should happen, but it is still a reason he should not be placed in the spotlight.”

“Just what right do you have to control his life?” Tsunade retorts.

“He would not be a member of this village, were it not for our intentions.”

“Your intentions can go to hell! Give me a _sensible_ objection to Kakashi and Iruka’s union!”

“Both Kakashi and Iruka,” says Koharu, “come from clans we would not see die out in the next generation.” Kakashi stiffens, more than a little uncomfortable at having that point brought up. He’d been hoping to avoid it, even with his prod earlier about how Iruka’s being a man shouldn’t be an issue here. Thankfully, Tsunade speaks on his behalf, her tone acerbic.

“In this time of progress and peace, are you really going to care more about maintaining your precious stock of kekkei genkai than blessing your hokage’s happiness?”

“Are you saying that we should put the happiness of one man ahead of the safety of the village?”

“Don’t twist my words,” Tsunade growls, stomping her foot with just enough force to make the room vibrate. “We no longer need to fear the nations around us. And the safety of the village is no longer measured in how many bloodlines we have, but in how many bonds we forge.”

When the council does not retaliate to that, Kakashi snatches his opportunity to leave. “Well, I’m off to think up a proposal. Wish me lu—” But he freezes the moment he has pushed the double doors open. They all freeze, actually, for there, practically framed between Kakashi’s arms, his coppery complexion paled by shock, is Iruka.

Only after several beats of horrified silence does Kakashi remember how his jaw works. “…How long have you been standing there?”

“F… For most of it… I suppose.”

“Oh…”

Tsunade and the council both seem to be holding their breath behind Kakashi. It hardly helps ease the tension. But just when he thinks he may snap like a gut string pulled too taut—

“I will.”

“Will what?” Kakashi echoes without thinking.

Iruka, poor man, is growing paler by the second. “I’m going to demand to see this clan documentation Tsunade-sama supposedly has, rant at Sandaime’s grave for a few hours about how he should have told me about all this especially considering Naruto, and beat you over the head for arguing with the council about the pros and cons of wedding me _before even proposing_ , but I… I will marry you.” Before Kakashi can do so much as gape in joyous surprise, however, Iruka quickly adds, “But first of all I’m going to pass out, so, if you don’t mind…”

He really does it, too — and Kakashi is immensely grateful to have been warned. He scoops Iruka up mid-fall and, feeling as stunned as they all look, faces the council with his new fiance in his arms.

Tsunade stifles a snort. “All things considered, he took that rather well.”


End file.
